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As Ühu Betch, the ballerina can express herself in a different way, there is no room for mistakes.
My office desk does double duty as a vanity. It sits under a window overlooking a lot of brown cobbled streets – I’ve been in Park Slope since August 2020 when the flat was handed over to me by a friend of a friend who moved the flat to the countryside. Natural light is great, perfect for drifting.
First I installed a mirror and put towels I put everything I need. To cover my brows, I use one of the purple glue sticks I got from elementary school and the thickest Kryolan foundation ever. I love the shine, heavy lashes, aggressively curved brows. Big lips always. Whenever I drift, it gets pretty violent. I have an extreme face: very long and thin, very bony. It’s not a fleshy, round face where you can cut lines—these lines only.
I’ve been doing stage makeup since I was 12, but I started doing drag in 2006 when I was with the Boston Ballet. My friends and I used to throw living room parties where we performed for each other. Finally, I created a group called Dairy Queens with my ex-boyfriend Dan Donigan, who plays as MilkThis included a group of artists in Boston and New York, where I am now the principal dancer and choreographer. American Ballet Theater.
drag step Uhu Bec. Uhu is a disrespectful bullshit queen. It’s not overly polished. Fun and frankly a bit silly – a transvestite with dad jokes. All the performances I do are dance-heavy because that comes naturally to me, but they’re never too sexy or maybe just coincidentally sexy. One of my favorites was at a club in Philadelphia in 2015. I sewed a silk pope costume, miter and all, and added Velcro on the back to rip. During the show, the audience would stick their tongues out and I would place rice crackers on them. I was undressing, giving people the Eucharist, doing drop splits and just going crazy.
Ballet is truly my life’s work, so if I feel like I’m not getting what I need, I’m disappointed. I invented this character to express myself in a different way – a chance to play drag, but not something I want to be the best at; all are bound to fail. It helps me rediscover the childhood sense of freedom that people tend to lose as they get older, and it taught me to be fearless and confident in everything I do. I’m not very shy so if there’s something I want to try, I go for it, whether it’s writing, taking pictures or dancing. If it doesn’t work, I move on – you don’t stop being creative, but you learn to move on from a failed concept. I think it’s important to have a place to explore. Some of the best things come from this.
This interview has been edited and shortened.
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